Karmic events and pivotal moments are in the making. It’s New Moon in Gemini, and a yearly solar eclipse on Thursday 10 June, 19 degrees and 47 minutes. It is happening at 11.52 am UK time. The exact time, though, is not very important, because this is energy that will affect us for at least the next six months, and possibly in years to come. But it does signify a discontinuous event or circumstance that can catch us unaware or unprepared, emotionally or intellectually, will be brought forward. This is big news. A lot of energy is unsettling as many planets are in mutable signs during the new moon. Plus, the Sun-Moon conjunction is happening on the North Node. A place of insatiable desire and hunger for what ever it touches, people, things, places. In Gemini it is ideas and information. A message will arrive that will change our lives. It will be a life defining moment. And it won’t be something that we just thought about or that it is totally brand new. The topic is known to us but the event is sudden or unexpected. With Mercury being the ruler of Gemini in retrograde motion, we are experiencing revisions and a reorganisation of our thought patterns, ways of decision making, how we communicate, modes of exchange and even of making and spending money are being worked over, now in a specific area of life. Instead of starting from scratch, something from the past will arrive to initiate a new chapter for us on that same theme we are concerning ourselves with. It is an opening. An opportunity will come our way. But it will take some time to make sense of it all. We will be going over and over it, again and again. Just as we see in the Ten of Cups that are transmuting and transforming energy from one vessel to the next and back again. Because of the North Node, this is a chance event that will bring benefits.

As an aside, because the new moon is hosted by Mercury, I have chosen to ask for a message that will guide us through this period from The Alchemical Tarot: Renewed. It is a Mercurial deck. The first card, The Ten of Cups, is a powerful sign of interconnectedness. The signification of Mercury is everywhere, not least in the mechanism of the alchemy that brings people together in a family, a social group or at work to co create something special. There will be happiness in the process of circulation and exchange. As it is an eclipse, however, expect drama and intensity. A crisis can not be ruled out that will shift our entire emotional world.

In the 10 of Cups this is alchemy and an overflow of emotions. We are creating a new life for ourselves that is more based on pure feeling, and in tune with our emotions, rather than our upbringing or cultural construct we have placed or found ourselves in. Eclipses come in pairs. This is the Gemini-Sagittarius axis. Last month we had the full moon eclipse in Sagittarius. Right now, in the middle of eclipse season, we are taking in Gemini energy, and letting go of Sagittarius influences. And so the association of Sagittarius with special knowledge, religious bonds, global travel, spiritual law and wholeness, are being excreted and diminished one way or another. Our attachment loosened. Other things matter to us now and those take precedence. Not least of all feelings and a flow of energy from us to others and back again. Asking questions, examining, chatting, choosing, multitasking, are all relevant and appropriate.

This is most of all a fertile time in our lives. Both the Ten of Cups and The Empress, are cards of fertility and Divine Love. Creation and manifestation. But also transformation and a kind of metamorphosis is taking place. Now it is the time to set intentions without delay. Opportunity will bring healing in any sphere of life we make the decision to imbue it with energy and spirit. The Empress in the middle of the spread is pure bliss. She is a ‘Woman Clothed in the Sun’ and relates to the moon. She embodies attraction, comfort, sensuality and the feminine principle. Everything around her is beautiful and growth follows. New life is being born. When The Empress appears in our reading, we really are getting what we want and more. Though none of these qualities of The Empress is what we would normally identify with either Gemini or Mercury, they will indeed impact this lunation due to all the aspects that it makes with other celestial bodies. Yet another reason to rejoice. A word of advice, if we are too much in our heads and getting too much mental stimulation during this period, then any earthly pursuits or distractions will help us navigate through the energies. Walking in nature, eating healthy, drinking enough water, caring for the body with beauty rituals, resting and taking it easy whenever possible, will keep us in a good physical and emotional shape for the many changes that are on the way.

Talking about navigating, of course, we will be cruising into uncharted waters and we will be experiencing lots of contradictory emotions. But we have set sail and the winds are blowing as we are heading for new shores. The 6 of Swords indicate once more how much our mental state is going to be stimulated. Swords are the element of air. And so we will be thinking and overthinking. With Mercury retrograde we will be going over conversations and events trying to smooth over mishaps and any miscommunications. Contracts will need more attention and extra focus. The duality of Gemini will bring forward more than one option on the table. And the square to Neptune which is ongoing can bring fog, confusion and deception, together with inspiration and a fertile imagination. But we have help and we will get through it. This is how Robert Place describes the Six of Swords in The Alchemical interpretation of the tarot: ‘The boat skilfully manoeuvres through the swords, aided by the personified loving breeze. The swords would represent danger if the boat was sailing to the right, towards the point of the blades, but this is not the case. The wind, a symbol of Anima Mundi, guides the boat to the left. This card represents the easy well being we experience when we go with the flow and let the Soul of the World guide us.’ Despite all that mental energy we must remember to trust ourselves and to allow our inner feelings to nurture our decision making. There is an intuitive cosmic guidance during this eclipse. A phenomenon that comes from the outside to change our world and that we have to work with it. In time we will be rewarded for it.

Flavia